We're getting a new roof!

Craig, our hot-tar guy, is up there today making the whole town stink of tar. I'm excited. This means we can move stuff into the formerly leaky classrooms, and empty and organize the gym a bit.
And the kindergarden room's Lake Elk will be no more, and the rabbits can move in there. And we can move all those buckets and bowls back into the kitchen (so they can be filled with ripening tomatoes).

It's a big item we can cross off the to-do list. And a step in preserving this cool old building.

I hope the tree frogs in the gym will stay and continue to make those big squishy ribbits.

Alas, bat

We were visited by two small, furry bats the other night. They flew around the home room a few times, then one managed to find her way out. The other seemed confused, hung over Badeaux's bed for a while then circled and circled. I opened the south door and turned the lights outside on and the inside lights off (not that bats would even notice, would they?) and tucked the plastic away from the doorways and it seemed to finally find its way out. The high ceilings, random openings into the hall and plastic curtains over doorways must make the space confusing. A couple of days later C. found Earl with the dead little thing. I think it's a Townsend's big-eared bat, a nearly endangered species. I wish I'd paid better attention and helped it out.

 A couple of random garden shots. The striped squash is a winter variety, Cushbaw. It's big.

Earl the pearl

It's Earl, a youth. He's growing into a handsome galoot, and his legs are stronger and pretty straight. (Well, maybe a little lumpy.) He gallops and lopes and rambles around the place. He steals drinks of beer and howls at Murder, She Wrote theme music. He is a good boy.

Repairing the old bus barn

We've been working on straightening the old barn, getting it ready for a new metal roof. We'll keep hay there, and shelter the five big fiber animals. The foundation has a cracked and leaning side (not too bad, though), the roof is sway-backed, and some rafters and roof boards need to be replaced. Some folks have mocked us for trying to save and use the building, but it's a cool old place with big bifold doors and we like it.

Below, Earl is helping me get the sides winched into plumbness (plumbitude?)  and the loft cleaned out.

You can see it's about due for a new roof, below. My friend Tom lent me two come-along winches and a bunch of chain to do the plumbifying. The front wall was tilted out about 2 inches, so we used the come-alongs to pull it back into shape. The plumb shape. Shaped like a plumb. You know, like a rectangle. I reinforced the corners with two-bys and L-brackets before cranking.

Inside, under the mess of fallen ceiling boards, was a pile of weird mud and sticks. I guessed it was old swallow nests, but we found labels from bags of clay. So it's art supplies. We're going to dig it out and make some tiles for the school, if it test-fires OK.

And this is cool: in trim on the northeast corner of the building, way in back, honeybees have a nest.  I was nervous about working there with bee traffic going in and out like a Yogi-and-Boo Boo cartoon and the huge rumbling buzz from the wall, but they were very mellow. And I kept low and avoided eye contact. Honey wasn't dripping out of the walls and I wouldn't pull off the siding and disturb them - but maybe next year I could put a hive box outside and try to lure a swarm into it.

Below, the two little goats enjoy their evening oats. C. hasn't named them yet, but I call them Mo and Pants. Mo, on the left, sports a bucket-handle necklace. They need meaningful work, some kind of job to keep them from making jewelry from found materials. And dancing on the non-running riding non-mower.

Adventures in cat-sitting

Frosty the cat adores me. At least when her people are out of town. That's her, rolling in my lap during one of my brief evening visits to scoop her litter box, collect mail and water the garden while her people are vacationing. She's a drooler and a weirdo, and was named for her frostbitten (or otherwise mutilated) ears. And after I watered the plants with the little watering can, an indignant tree frog stuck his head out and gave me a look. And I met the famous toad, in the driveway. Got so excited I forgot to turn the water off and had to come back.

Two more fiber animals

Guineas on parade

Brought 10 half-grown guineas home weekend before last. They're very sweet, but not exactly attractive. And they eat like pigs. We're keeping them in the old guinea/rabbit pen for a while before integrating them into the flock.

Monday I took them for their first outing into the garden.

First, we had to find the garden.

They had a blast, skulking through the beds and pecking at mulch.

The youngest ones still have their baby stripes. And the older ones have touches of blue in their clown makeup. No bony hats yet – just bumps.

Then they had a big dinner and went to bed.